Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The need to know: Swedish hardcore punks Refused called it quits in 1998, but not before unleashing the career-defining The Shape Of Punk To Come. This swan song solidified Refused's place in the hardcore cannon, and showed those of us on the fringe of the genre that it can be more than just angry screams over angry guitars. Whispers of a Refused reunion surfaced in March of this year, but it was not to be. Le sigh.

Why it's worthy: In 1998, a friend of mine sent me this song and said only this: "It will rock your socks off." The boy wasn't lyin'. A concise capsule of Refused's views of the punk scene--a stand still relevant today--"New Noise" calls out punk noisemakers content to confine punk's dissentive nature to the same-old simplistic pop leanings. What makes "New Noise" (and, admittedly, the entire album) so great is the band's fearlessness to not just be furious, but also know when to step off the throttle and incorporate elements as wide ranging as jazz and ambient sounds without worrying about coloring within the lines. The fact that they can do all of that and STILL give us hooks is why we remember this song, and the band, over a decade after they disbanded.

Quotable lyric: "And how can we expect anyone to listen/ If we are using the same old voice?"

Where you've heard it: "New Noise" was featured in the soundtracks for the 2004 film Friday Night Lights and the 2006 ridiculousness-fest Crank.

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Think of Songs to Obsess Over as the neverending listing to the best mixtape you've ever heard. It's a place to help you discover new songs, bands, albums and remind you of old faves. Anything is fair game: from the hippest new bands to the goofiest of guilty pleasures, if it gets us obsessed, it's on.